He is already one of the biggest figures in the Russian entertainment arena, and now Alexander Rodnyansky has turned his sights and his resources to the US. With his first English-language film in competition at Berlin, he spoke to Screen about his career and his ambitions in film

EXCLUSIVE: The story of the Heysel Stadium football disaster, when 39 Juventus fans died just prior to the 1985 European Cup Final against Liverpool, is to be told in an ambitious new €7 million feature film.

Here in Berlin, the British Film Institute (BFI) has revealed further details of its major Alfred Hitchcock restoration project, which is being mounted for the London 2012 Festival (part of the Cultural Olympiad to tie in with the Olympic Games.)

Ealing Metro will be tempting buyers in Berlin with British athletics drama Fast Girls, produced by Damian Jones, directed by Regan Hall, and described by star Noel Clarke as “Rocky with girls in lycra”.

The closing night ceremony at the 35th Gothenberg International Film Festival (GIFF) last night was a cheerful affair livened up by brassy host Shima Niavarani a Swedish hybrid of Bernadette Peters and Bette Midler who had a whipsmart sense of humour (in English, no less) and a powerful singing voice.

EXCLUSIVE: Independent is continuing its collaboration with Cinetic by taking on two hot titles from Sundance: Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly’s time-travel comedy Safety Not Guaranteed and Alison Klayman’s documentary Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, about the Chinese artist.

Aiming to quell a month of political infighting over the fate of the Rome Film Festival, Anica, the Italian motion pictures association, has issued a statement today backing Marco Mueller as the “right solution” as artistic director of Italy’s second festival.

Danish director Tobias Lindholm and actor Pilou Asbaek, who first collaborated on hard-hitting prison drama R in 2010, reunite for Lindholm’s new movie A Hijacking, which is being readied for completion by Cannes.

UK film distributor Peccadillo Pictures have secured UK and Ireland rights to Panorama opening film Kuma.Director Umut Dag’s film is sold by Films Boutique.Peccadillo has been especially busy in Berlin, also buying Sheldon Larry’s contemporary musical Leave It On The Floor from The Film Collaborative; Italian sci-fi

Traditional film sales are in flux, with the rise of digital platforms creating new opportunities for sellers against the backdrop of tough economic times. On the eve of Berlin’s European Film Market, John Hazelton explores a fast-evolving sector

US producer Max Howard and Munich based Papa Löwe Filmproduktion are partnering with Torsten Poeck and UK-based writer/producer Kirsty Peart on the development of the partly animated family feature film, Cow On The Run, in collaboration with Gut Aiderbichl.The true story of Yvonne, the bovine bandit from Bavaria, is to be brought to Hollywood and the international markets by an international team of award-winning animators, writers and producers. Yvonne escaped a Bavarian

French sales and production outfit Urban Distribution International has sold One Love (Un Amor) by Paula Hernandez to a number of territories early in the EFM.Deals done include Switzerland, Austria (Trigon), Finland (Cinema Mondo), Sweden (Triart Film), Uruguay and Argentina (DCA).The Argentinian film tells the story of two childhood friends who fall in love with the same girl, Lisa. A love triangle starts until she suddenly leaves town.Thirty years later, on a business

US producers Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen of Parts & Labor are lining up a busy slate of projects including Adam Rapp’s Red Light Winter, Gregg Araki’s The Womb, and new films from Robinson Devor and Ben Foster, the latter making his directorial debut.

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